


truth ; answers

by damnmysterytome



Category: Daredevil (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-18
Updated: 2016-05-18
Packaged: 2018-06-09 04:04:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,815
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6889231
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/damnmysterytome/pseuds/damnmysterytome
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tumblr prompt: Frank and Karen's kid find out what Daddy does at night.</p>
            </blockquote>





	truth ; answers

**Author's Note:**

> So this fic has taken me about twelve days to write so I hope it's as good as twelve days should have taken me. A nice little friendly reminder that I'm always accepting prompts over at my tumblr: kastled.

“Frank, Frank, Frank, Frank.” Karen tried to get Frank's attention as he climbed out of his truck, but he seemed to be in a daze. He seemed to not know where he was, who was in front of. “Hey, Frank, look at me.” Karen said.

She knew that Frank was upset the second that she heard his truck pull up into the driveway. There was music blaring, loud heavy metal music. Frank never listened to heavy metal and he never had the radio on when he'd get home. Considering what time it was when he normally came home, he never had the radio on in fear of waking his daughter.

“Mom?” The voice of their sixteen year old daughter, Beth, caught Karen's attention and she turned around to face her.

“Go back inside.” She ordered. She watched her eyes catch sight of the sight of her father, his face covered in blood and stumbling.

“Oh my God, Dad!”

“Beth get back inside!” Karen shouted.

The door shut and Karen walked over to Frank and grabbed his arm. “Hey! What is your problem?” She snapped. “Our daughter can see you like this!” He barely acknowledged that Beth was looking at him through the window, covered in blood and still in his Punisher vest. Beth ducked behind the curtain in the window when he looked _through_ her then back away.

Frank pulled his arm away from Karen and started towards his shed where he kept everything he needed for his nighttime activities. All of his weapons were out there, all of his research and papers, even a shower that he could clean himself off on. He was good at keeping it locked up so Beth never knew what was out there.

When Karen got pregnant with Beth, they made the decision that they wouldn't tell her what her father did until she was old enough to truly understand and make her own judgments about it. But even now that she was a teenager and could form her own opinion, they hadn't gotten around to telling her about Frank.

They'd moved away from Hell's Kitchen, hours away from the town they'd both called home. Far enough away that The Punisher's real identity wasn't common knowledge but close enough that a few times a week, Frank could head into Hell's Kitchen and do what he needed to do. They told Beth he was a bounty hunter, which wasn't an exact lie. It wasn't a pretty life, it wasn't fun, but it was what they did.

Frank stood at the door to his shed and fumbled with the keys in his hand until Karen took them from him and unlocked the shed. She stepped in first and took several steps into the shed, turning around to face him as he shut the door behind him. “Frank.” She said again. She said his name repeatedly, but nothing seemed to phase him.

Karen turns to the shower and turns on the water, making sure it was cold until she led Frank into the shower, pushing him under the cold water. She was hoping that the cold water would snap Frank out of whatever daze he was in. She pushed off his jacket and tossed it to the floor, his vest next, then the shirt he was wearing. Karen started scrubbing off the blood from Frank's face, from his neck, and from his arms.

“I couldn't stop it.” Frank finally spoke while Karen was cleaning his arms off.

She looked up at him, squinting to see him through the water from the shower. “What?”

“There was this girl, she was Beth's age. They had her.” Karen knew that Frank was going after a underground porn company that kidnapped young girls, drugged them, then let men do whatever they wanted with them while they were passed out. It too often ended in the girls being killed. “Fuck, Karen, she looked just like our little girl.” He hung his head low and shook his head. “I couldn't save her.”

Few things affected Frank like not being able to save someone when he was out there. That was part of the reason he did this. It wasn't just about making sure the scum couldn't hurt people anymore, it was saving those who were already hurting because of them. Especially when it came to kids, especially when it came to kids who were the same age as his daughter.

“I couldn't.. I couldn't save her, I couldn't help her.”

Frank's head ducked down and he buried his head in Karen's shoulder, the sobs coming on now. His arms wrapped around Karen's shoulders and he tugged her close.

“Sh,” Karen said and brought her hand up to the back of his neck, softly stroking the small hairs on the back of his neck. She didn't tell him it was okay that he couldn't save the girl, she knew that wasn't what Frank needed to hear. All he needed for the moment was just her presence.

“Oh my God.” A voice broke through the room and Frank lifted his head up. Beth Castle was standing in the doorway to his shed, looking around at everything in the shed. The guns, the research, the blood soaked clothes sitting on the floor. “You're the Punisher.”

“Beth..” Karen looked from her husband to her daughter, reaching back to turn off the water from the shower. Frank moved from under the shower towards her, but Beth took a step back.

“My father's The Punisher!?” She shouted.

Frank shushed her, low and soft, like he had done to Karen when she held a gun on him. “Sweetheart, keep your voice down.”

“Why, Dad? Don't want anyone to hear me?!”

“Beth -”

Beth looked at her father with wide eyes, but she didn't look scared. She didn't even look disgusted. She looked confused, betrayed, hurt. She had her mothers expressive eyes, one look was enough to make Frank want to run himself over with his truck.

“You told me you were a bounty hunter. But you're The Punisher! You _kill_ people. You're a _monster_!”

Frank couldn't deny that he killed people. He did. He's probably killed in the triple digits, he's never kept count. He couldn't deny that he was a monster. “I ain't ever hurt anyone who didn't deserve it.”

Beth scoffed and shook her head, crossing her arms over her chest. “Who are you to decide that, Dad!? Who are you to play judge, jury, and executioner?” Frank opened his mouth to explain himself, to tell her _everything._ About his family, about his mission, about how he did this for _her_. To keep her safe. “I need to, I need to go to school.” She turned around on her heel and started to leave the shed, pushing open the door.

“Beth -” Frank took two large steps towards his daughter and wrapped his fingers around her forearm.

Beth ripped her arm from her father and spun around, her eyes shooting daggers into his face. The look is enough to rip out Frank's heart. Stomp on it. Cut it up into pieces. Feed it to each of their dogs. “Don't touch me!”

Karen spoke up for the first time to scold her daughter as she spun back around again and continued stomping off. “Elizabeth Castle!”

“Let her go.” Frank mumbled, watching her walk away, watching her grab the backpack she left on the front porch and watching her take off towards the bus stop.

* * *

  
  


Elizabeth Jane Castle was the perfect combination of her parents. She had her fathers natural curls, her mothers eyes (in both color and expressiveness), her fathers stubbornness and love of coffee, and her mothers determination. When she got onto something, there was nothing that could stop her until she got everything she wanted. Her father always called her a “goddamn force of nature”. He wasn't wrong.

Beth walked up the front steps of the apartment complex and looked for the names on the board until she came across “F. Nelson.”. She lifted her hand up and pressed the button for his apartment, taking a step back until she heard a voice come through.

“Hello?”

“Uncle Foggy? It's Beth.”

“Beth? What are you doing here?”

“I just.. I need someone to talk to.”

“Are your parents with you?”

“No.”

“Come on up.”

Beth walked through the apartment buildings doors and took the stairs over the elevators, it was only three floors anyway and the privacy allowed her to think. She'd been at the library most of the day doing research on her father, but everything about her father from before he became The Punisher had been erased. There was no trace of anything but what he'd done, not who he was.

If she'd asked her father, she didn't know if he would have told her the truth. He spent this long lying to her, so why should she be believe that he'd tell her the truth now? Maybe there was no reason that her father was doing this. Maybe he was just insane. Maybe he just liked killing and decided that this was the best way to go about it.

Or maybe there was a reason for it. Maybe there was some kind of reason that her father felt the need to go out there and kill those who he deemed deserved it. And by what she's read about those who he has killed, he's right. They deserve it. The people he's killed are monsters, people who would without a second thought, kidnap a child and sell them into slavery. People who would without a second thought murder and rape and torture.

Whatever the answer was, Beth needed answers. And she didn't trust her parents to tell her the truth anymore, so after her trip to the library was unsuccessful, she decided to go to her godfather and uncle, Foggy. He was always honest with her – if he knew about her father, and she knew that he did, Foggy would tell her the truth.

Beth stopped in front of Foggy's door and knocked, waiting a few seconds before Foggy opened the door and ushered her in. Once in the room, Beth threw her arms around Foggy's waist, burying her head in his chest.

“Hey kid,” Foggy mumbled, wrapping his arms around her waist. “Your parents know you're in Hell's Kitchen?”

“No. They think I'm in school.” She admitted, looking up at him. “Please don't tell them, I don't want them to come looking for me.”

Foggy pursed his lips and looked down at her as he started to pull away. “Alright... But if they call asking, I'm not lying to them.”

“Will you lie to me?”

“I'd never lie to you. What's bothering you?” Foggy asked, moving Beth over to his couch. She sat down on the couch and Foggy sat on the opposite end of the couch, watching her.

“I know about my Dad.... Being The Punisher.” Beth said, looking up at Foggy. His face fell as she said the words and that told Beth exactly what she needed to know. Foggy knew. “There's nothing about my Dad before The Punisher. I've looked. But I remember my mom saying that you and Uncle Matt used to have a law office and that's how you met my mom and how my mom met my Dad so I thought.. I thought you'd have answers.”

Foggy sighed and he slowly stood to his feet. “Wait here.” He said before he left his living room. He returned a few moments later with two boxes in his hands. “These are all of the files from the case.”

“The case?” Beth asked, standing to her feet. She walked over to Foggy and took one of the boxes from him and walked over to the couch, setting it down on the table.

“We met Frank when he was arrested for... Well... Murder.” He said, setting the other box down on the table. “In some twist of events I'm still not convinced they didn't plan, your mother and Matt convinced me to take the case, then your mother convinced Frank to let us take it.”

“How?”

Foggy looked over at Beth and was pretty sure that Frank was going to kill him when he found out that he told Beth any of this, but he told her he wouldn't lie to her. “Your mother broke into Frank's house, stole a photo of his family, and shoved it in his face and yelled at him.”

“Family?”

Foggy opened the box in front of him and reached forward, picking up a photo buried deep in the box. He handed it over to her, leaning back against the couch.

Beth took the photo from Foggy and a soft gasp left her mouth. She brought her hand to her mouth as she looked at it, looked at her father and his wife and two small children. She thought she looked a bit like the little girl. He never let her go on merry-go-round's, it made sense now. “He had a family?”

“Maria, Frank Jr., and Lisa.” Foggy said, pointing each one out to her. “They were... They were gunned down at this merry-go-round in a drug bust gone... Horribly wrong. Your dad, he was in a coma for a real long time and then he came out of it he... He went on a rampage, killing everyone who had anything to do with it. That's how we met him.”

Foggy went on to tell her everything about the case, about Frank and her Mom. By the end of his story, Beth was in tears, sobbing heavily and loudly.

“Uncle Foggy, I gotta go, I gotta go home. I called him... I called him a monster.” Beth said through sobs. Her father wasn't a monster, he was just a man who had lost his family and no one was helping him. No one cared.

“Come on, I'll drive you home.”

 

* * *

 

Two hours and a stop at a fast food place later, Foggy pulled up into the driveway in front of the Castle house. It was past midnight but the house was lit up.

“They're probably so mad.” Beth whispered. She hadn't stopped crying, not completely. There were still tears streaming down her face, but the sobs had stopped. The two hours from Foggy's had given her a lot of time to think about everything.

“They're just going to be okay that you're home and safe.” Beth turned to look at Foggy and her bottom lip trembled. She turned her head back to the house and sniffled, bringing a hand up to her face. “Come on.” Foggy said, climbing out of the car.

Foggy came around the front of the car and opened up the passengers side door. Beth unbuckled her seat belt and stepped out of the car, tugging her jacket over her body. He walked her up to the front door and pressed a kiss to her forehead before Beth reached into her backpack to find her keys. She pulled them out of her bag and unlocked the front door, stepping into the house.

Beth took a few steps into the house and dropped her bag to the floor, the tears starting again. She thought about her fathers house with his family and how he blew it up, how he was here with them. Would he have done the same thing to this house if something had happened to her and her mom?

Did he love her as much as he loved Frank Jr. and Lisa?

“Mom?” She called out, bringing a hand to her face. She heard the door shut behind her and she craned her head around to see that Foggy was still standing there. “Dad?” She called out.

Beth heard the footsteps of her parents and she looked down at the floor until the footsteps were loud and she could tell they were in the same room. She looked up at her father and her mother, both a mixture of furious and relieved on their faces.

“I'm sorry,” Beth sobbed, taking a few steps to her father. She threw her arms around his shoulders and buried her head in his neck. “I'm so sorry, Daddy.”

With just one look, just one hug, just one cry, Frank knew. He knew that Beth knew everything about him. What happened to his first wife and to Frank Jr. and Lisa. What he had done since then. Frank cleared his throat and tightened his grip on his daughter, burying his head in her blonde hair.

“You're not a monster, Dad, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.”

“Shh, Beth, shh.” Frank murmured, running his hand over her back. He glanced up at Foggy, nodding his head at his former lawyer. 'Thank you.' He mouthed to him. Foggy gave him a nod, gave Karen a nod, before ducking out of the house to let them have their moment.

 


End file.
